The Faux Layer Sweater, Part 2

Is my style evolving to something that’s more me or am I just being overly inundated by other people’s outfits?

treasure and bond, stripe shirt, nordstrom, layer sweater, crop jeans, oxford shoes

Top: Similar, Similar / Jeans: Same, Similar / Oxfords: Similar, Similar, Similar / Necklace: Similar, Similar

A few days ago, I was looking through some old pictures on Facebook, trying to find a specific picture of a dress I wore once (not important). While I was looking through the pictures, I was glancing at my pictures from when I was in grad school and thought, wow, I actually really liked how I dressed then. Which made me start wondering, am I going to think the same thing about what I’m wearing right now in the future? Why do I currently like what I was wearing then so much?

It’s a little silly, since I’m only about 2 and a half years out of grad school, but I feel like my style experimenting in the past two years has definitely increased. I still stick to my favorite, easy to wear pieces, but I’ve also been more willing to try trends I wouldn’t have necessarily tried before. This change is definitely in part from reading more blogs and blogging on my own (hello style pressure). I read blogs and was an avid pinner, but I also had to keep things to a minimum since I was still in school and juggling my part time jobs. Now that I have a lot more free time, it’s turned into more free time browsing blogs and debating online shopping (which I definitely did in grad school since I did not have time to actually go shopping).

I’m probably fantasizing my wardrobe a little bit, thinking that I had a lot of really great mix and match pieces and knew exactly what my style was, so I decided to apply some Life With Intention course work to it. I think it came down to this: I was truly living my values when it came to my wardrobe during grad school. During school I really valued: being comfortable, being confident, be artistic with my wardrobe, and having pieces that could easily transition from the classroom to work to events.*

*This was a little odd since I had to dress

professionally” for some grad school networking events, but I also interned at American Eagle Outfitters when I was encouraged to wear jeans to work (it was seriously the best).

Looking over those values now, my current ones are…basically the same (minus the classroom part and replace it with weekend).

So what’s different? Why has my style changed a little? Truthfully…I think I’m getting a little too caught up in trying new trends and being influenced by what other people are buying and wearing. I’m sure you’ve heard bloggers complain about it before, but even if you’re not thinking about it, the pressure to wear and post what people want to see is real. I touched on it a little before in this post and also in this post about clothing pieces I don’t understand, but acknowledging it doesn’t always make the feeling go away.

So what’s the solution?

I don’t necessarily think it’s a closet clean out, trust me, I’ve done that so many times that my friend Christine actually responded with “ANOTHER closet cleanout?!?!” last time I mentioned. I really think it may be a bigger shift, a shift about my attitude towards buying clothing.

I feel like blog readers get shouted at from every angle to:

– buy the investment (ie expensive) pieces that will last you forever

– stop shopping at forever21 so you buy higher quality pieces

– buy trend pieces at places like Forever21 so you save more money

– you can have a great wardrobe without spending all of your money

– keep your wardrobe small so you get use out of all of the pieces that you buy

Just typing that was exhausting. And confusing. I’ve read each one of them before and no one is wrong….but no one is 100% right. And each one of those points has influenced what I’ve bought at some point and why I’m currently confused.

I think the real solution is that it’s time to actually start paying attention to what I buy and if what I’m buying fits my values. Not just is this super cute/trendy/on sale, but is this something that:

Allows me to feel comfortable

Be confident

be artistic with my wardrobe

Can easily transition from the work to weekend to events.

It’s weird because it’s not actually a goal, but I kind of like that. It feels a lot more freeing.

So now out of my own curiousity, have you noticed your style shifting? Do you find your own way to follow fashion trends in your own way or have you got your uniform down pact?